Us Tourist Visa - Does it sound good or bad for us?

[chrisf77]

My fiancee is applying to get the tourist visa to America. Can someone tell us if we need anything else or if you think our case is good enough?

She is Thai (26 years old) and I am American (27 years old)

I have been living in Thailand with my fiancee and her family for the past 1-2 years. Last school semester I was teaching english. This school semester I was suppose to continue teaching but am not now because the flooding messed everything up. I plan to continue teaching next semester starting in May but no offical document to prove this.

We are trying to visit my family and friends in America for 2-3 months, (February-April). We will also travel around (We made a 2-3 month trip Itinerary to show)

About me (I will give the following to my fiancee to bring to the interview)
Letter to the consulate, to explain anything and list our cases..
Assets Document with photos in Thailand which equal a little over 200,000 baht
Engagement gold I gave to her which also equals a little over 200,000 baht (Engaged Last April)
Un-offical house rental agreement, 2 year contract, 1 year remains.
Bank Book (20-30,000 baht) I spent 50,000 baht supporting me and my fiancee while our houses were flooded .
Passport
Work Permit
Seven Seas Insurance just renewed as of October, 2011

About my fiancee.
She is an only child.

She is near the end of her master's degree, she only has to write a Thesis
-Student Certificate, Letter to confirm remaining tests and return date (Should we print the transcript?)

Her and her parents own a really nice house and 2 other pieces of land that they rent to people and a farm of coconuts, etc that they maintain personally.
-House Certificate, and Land Deed in here name
-House Certificates, Land Deeds for other houses in parents names (Should we bring these since they are not in her name?)
-Photos of house and farm, not all pieces of land though.
-Tax Documents (Recipts from past 8 years)

Bank Account
-Bank Book (60,000 baht)

My mother will sponsor her (She visited Thailand last April and met my girlfriend and her family)1.I-134 Form

2.Employment Letter

3.Pay Stubs (3-4)

4.Bank Letter

5.Bank Statement

6.Invitation Letter

7.Income Tax Documents (last 3 years)

8.Identification (Birth Certificate)

She never traveled out of the country before.

She has many relatives.
-Family Tree of all Aunts, Uncles and there children from both Mothers and Fathers sides.
-Photos of family

Engagement to me
-Photos of this event showing engagement gold


-----------------------
Our primary reason to return is that she needs to return to finish her masters degree. If she is denied the visa my question would be.. Why would anyone try to immigrate to another country right before they finish there master degree? Why not finish the degree first then try to immigrate to another country?

I just hope they will see our true intentions, as in the future I would like to bring her to visit my family each year around this same time. If we were to not return to thailand or overstay or anything we not suppose to this would cause to much problems for us to travel back and forth to see our families. Also if we intended to get married in America we would of just applied for the fiancee visa, why would someone waste there money trying to get a tourist visa so they can get married in america just to end up on some kind of blacklist with the goverment?

Please reply, I would like to know what others think.
Should we be finding more documents to bring?

[peace999]

My fiancee is applying to get the tourist visa to America. Can someone tell us if we need anything else or if you think our case is good enough?

She is Thai (26 years old) and I am American (27 years old)

I have been living in Thailand with my fiancee and her family for the past 1-2 years. Last school semester I was teaching english. This school semester I was suppose to continue teaching but am not now because the flooding messed everything up. I plan to continue teaching next semester starting in May but no offical document to prove this.

We are trying to visit my family and friends in America for 2-3 months, (February-April). We will also travel around (We made a 2-3 month trip Itinerary to show)

About me (I will give the following to my fiancee to bring to the interview)
Letter to the consulate, to explain anything and list our cases..
Assets Document with photos in Thailand which equal a little over 200,000 baht
Engagement gold I gave to her which also equals a little over 200,000 baht (Engaged Last April)
Un-offical house rental agreement, 2 year contract, 1 year remains.
Bank Book (20-30,000 baht) I spent 50,000 baht supporting me and my fiancee while our houses were flooded .
Passport
Work Permit
Seven Seas Insurance just renewed as of October, 2011

About my fiancee.
She is an only child.

She is near the end of her master's degree, she only has to write a Thesis
-Student Certificate, Letter to confirm remaining tests and return date (Should we print the transcript?)

Her and her parents own a really nice house and 2 other pieces of land that they rent to people and a farm of coconuts, etc that they maintain personally.
-House Certificate, and Land Deed in here name
-House Certificates, Land Deeds for other houses in parents names (Should we bring these since they are not in her name?)
-Photos of house and farm, not all pieces of land though.
-Tax Documents (Recipts from past 8 years)

Bank Account
-Bank Book (60,000 baht)

My mother will sponsor her (She visited Thailand last April and met my girlfriend and her family)1.I-134 Form

2.Employment Letter

3.Pay Stubs (3-4)

4.Bank Letter

5.Bank Statement

6.Invitation Letter

7.Income Tax Documents (last 3 years)

8.Identification (Birth Certificate)

She never traveled out of the country before.

She has many relatives.
-Family Tree of all Aunts, Uncles and there children from both Mothers and Fathers sides.
-Photos of family

Engagement to me
-Photos of this event showing engagement gold


-----------------------
Our primary reason to return is that she needs to return to finish her masters degree. If she is denied the visa my question would be.. Why would anyone try to immigrate to another country right before they finish there master degree? Why not finish the degree first then try to immigrate to another country?

I just hope they will see our true intentions, as in the future I would like to bring her to visit my family each year around this same time. If we were to not return to thailand or overstay or anything we not suppose to this would cause to much problems for us to travel back and forth to see our families. Also if we intended to get married in America we would of just applied for the fiancee visa, why would someone waste there money trying to get a tourist visa so they can get married in america just to end up on some kind of blacklist with the goverment?

Please reply, I would like to know what others think.
Should we be finding more documents to bring?

As you probably already know, that a fiancee of a US citizen is automatically presumed to
have an immigrant intent. She will have to convince the consular hard for this but a major question is ( and which will be surely asked in the interview as well) when do you guys actually want to get married and where?

[chrisf77]

Thanks for your reply

when do you guys actually want to get married and where?

I always told my fiancee well get married after she finishes her master's degree and also after I and my parents save enough for the dowry.

First well have the wedding in Thailand, then our intention was to get the marriage visa so she can travel to america, well have a second wedding so to speak for my family in America and then stay and work for 2-3 years. After that we would want to return to Thailand to be with her family.

If we said this, would it be completely against us? or would it be in our best interest to leave out the part about apply for the marriage immigration visa after we get married in Thailand so we can both live in america for a few years?

In this time, our only intention is truly to just go and visit my family and return to Thailand.

[peace999]

Thanks for your reply



I always told my fiancee well get married after she finishes her master's degree and also after I and my parents save enough for the dowry.

First well have the wedding in Thailand, then our intention was to get the marriage visa so she can travel to america, well have a second wedding so to speak for my family in America and then stay and work for 2-3 years. After that we would want to return to Thailand to be with her family.

If we said this, would it be completely against us? or would it be in our best interest to leave out the part about apply for the marriage immigration visa after we get married in Thailand so we can both live in america for a few years?

In this time, our only intention is truly to just go and visit my family and return to Thailand.

Leave out the part about the 2nd wedding in US. If asked, just say we
wish to remain in thailand after our wedding for some years to come. Your working in thailand will support this argument but you will need to show some documents/pay stubs for that and send a copy of your passport showing your stay in thailand. Also leave out your mother sponsoring your fiancee. Looks unnatural. She can say you are financing the trip. And you will have to show good balance/ income for that.

All that said, I won't be surprised if she is denied. But it does not hurt to try.
If your wife's attempt at visitor visa fails, and you really want your wife to travel to US, the only way would be to prepone your marriage plans.

By the way, are you aware of a thing called consular filing of immigrant petition ( I-130) for your spouse?
It means, after you get married in thailand, you can directly file your wife's petition at US embassy in thailand and it will be approved in a very short time. No US processing required. THis is a privilege for US citizens living outside US. This way is really much shorter and more convenient than taking the fiancee visa route.

[chrisf77]

Your working in thailand will support this argument but you will need to show some documents/pay stubs for that and send a copy of your passport showing your stay in thailand.

Well, I was going to just give my bank book which shows the money going into my bank account as it was always done electronically so I dont have pay stubs.
I was going to give her my work permit and passport also. I figure that would cover everything, would a work permit be sufficent?

Also, I'll have to get a re-entry permit before we leave but I was going to do this after she gets the visa incase she is denied (costs 1000 baht). Seems it would be convincing though if she could show this re-entry permit with everything else. or not?

Also leave out your mother sponsoring your fiancee. Looks unnatural. She can say you are financing the trip. And you will have to show good balance/ income for that.

The main reason my mother is the sponsor is because the whole time we are in america we will be staying at her house and other places she owns. At this moment I don't feel like I have a convincing amount of money in my bank as I probably only have 4 or 5,000$ between both my thai and american banks.

I feel like for my mother to sponsor her is the only choice

By the way, are you aware of a thing called consular filing of immigrant petition ( I-130) for your spouse? It means, after you get married in thailand, you can directly file your wife's petition at US embassy in thailand and it will be approved in a very short time.

This sounds interesting for in the future, I'll look into this, Thanks

[peace999]

Your work permit is fine but a very important issue is your income.For 2 reasons;
1) As a funding source of your trip to US.
2) To show that you are settled in thailand and will not stay back in US.

You need to show a letter from your employer that your job is ongoing , your title and your salary. If you file tax returns in thailand, that will be another plus.

Your mother does not need to sponsor just because you will be staying with her during the trip.
She can just send an invitation letter.
Sponsorship basically means funding. And In your scenario, you should not need sponsorship as the visa officer will expect you to be able to fund this short trip.

Well, I was going to just give my bank book which shows the money going into my bank account as it was always done electronically so I dont have pay stubs.
I was going to give her my work permit and passport also. I figure that would cover everything, would a work permit be sufficent?

Also, I'll have to get a re-entry permit before we leave but I was going to do this after she gets the visa incase she is denied (costs 1000 baht). Seems it would be convincing though if she could show this re-entry permit with everything else. or not?




The main reason my mother is the sponsor is because the whole time we are in america we will be staying at her house and other places she owns. At this moment I don't feel like I have a convincing amount of money in my bank as I probably only have 4 or 5,000$ between both my thai and american banks.

I feel like for my mother to sponsor her is the only choice



This sounds interesting for in the future, I'll look into this, Thanks